Once Upon a Road Trip
by TurnMyGriefToGrace
Summary: MerDer; post season six. Not spoilery. Random one shot idea that I couldn't get out of my head.  The thought of Meredith and Derek taking a road trip together amused me, so I wrote something.  Enjoy!


**Disclaimer: I don't own it. I just wish I did.**

**As usual, this is a random one shot idea that I couldn't get out of my head. The thought of them taking a road trip together amused me, so I wrote something. Enjoy! :)**

They weren't really the vacation-taking types. Mostly because a) the hospital wasn't exactly generous with vacation days, and b) whatever days they did get off, they slept and had sex and vegged out in bed all day with takeout food and movies.

This summer, though, and only at the high price of working weekends and holidays, they decided to spoil themselves with a trek down the west coast to take their years-in-the-making wine country trip, a kind-of honeymoon they hadn't gotten to take.

"I'll look up plane fare," Meredith said, perched in the swivel chair in his office while they ate lunch one day.

"Why don't we drive?"

She turned away from the computer screen and blinked at him. "What?"

"Yeah. Come on. It'll be fun," he attempted to coax her. "Nine hours… just you, me, and the open road."

"Did you seriously just say open road?" Meredith giggled.

"Come on," Derek tried again. "We barely get to see each other at work most days, except for these half hour lunch breaks."

Meredith tried, too. "True, but after a two hour plane ride, we could spend the other seven hours we would've spent driving having sex in our hotel."

"We'll have five days worth of sex once we get there," he pointed out, smiling at her. "Please?"

Between the smile and the begging, Meredith knew she wasn't going to win this one, and she silently cursed herself for succumbing to his charm. "Hmm, fine," she said reluctantly. "But wherever we go next, we're flying."

Derek outstretched his arm and shook her hand. "Deal."

…

_4 A.M._

Three weeks later, and they're packed and ready to go. A cooler full of food and drinks on the floor of the backseat, luggage in the trunk, two pillows, cell phones, iPods, and other odds and ends Meredith shoved into her tote bag to keep them entertained for their nine hour journey.

"All set?" Derek asks, chipper and wide awake at four in the morning, something that will never stop amazing her and annoying her. He's always been a morning person; she, however, isn't.

"Yeah," Meredith yawns as they walk out the front door, holding a steaming cup of caffeinated coffee in her hand.

"Did you pee first?" he asks.

She rolls her eyes and laughs. "Yes, dad, I peed," she says. "Did you?"

"Yep." He turns the key in the lock and the bolt slides in place. It's still dark outside as they walk toward the car parked in the driveway. "Roads are still empty at this hour. We should make pretty good time getting there."

Meredith nods, sliding into the passenger seat and fastening her seatbelt. "Uh huh," she agrees, yawning again while she sets her coffee in the cup holder. She clutches onto her pillow and snuggles it close. "Okay, goodnight."

Derek laughs. "Don't sleep. Who will I talk to?"

"Conversation wasn't part of the deal," she smirks.

"It's implied."

He's giving her the smile again, and she has no choice. "Okay. But keep in mind that I'm not much fun at four in the morning."

"I don't know about that. I have quite a few fond memories of the two of us, naked and going at it, at four in the morning," Derek reminds her as he backs the car out of the driveway and onto the road.

"That was back when I was an intern and didn't value my sleep," she says. "I've wised up since then."

"Our non-wedding night," he challenges.

She smiles. "Fine. You got me."

"And don't forget all of the porny, into-the-wee-hours break-up sex. That was fun."

"Yes, it was." Meredith twists her legs into a pretzel and leans against the headrest. "Oh, and all the baby-making sex we've been having recently? Pretty damn good."

They've been trying for a few weeks now, since the night they moved into their new house, and every night has been more adventurous than the preceding one. Just one of the perks to living in the woods, roommate free, with license to do whatever they wanted, in any room of the house, any time, day or night.

"Now no one can complain about us being too loud," Derek grins.

"One of the many reasons I'm glad we moved out. Plus, you know, if we still lived there and actually had a baby, it would probably be rooming with us, considering every available bedroom, attic, and couch is occupied." She sighs contentedly. "It's so nice to be out of that frat house."

"But if we still lived there, we could've had four free babysitters."

Meredith sips her coffee and smiles. "Each more unqualified than the next."

"Hmm, true."

…

_7 A.M._

"Can you pull over at the next rest stop?" Meredith asks while they're driving along an Oregon freeway, as the sun finally makes its appearance in the sky.

"Yeah. You okay?"

Meredith nods. "I just need to pee. And I'm hungry."

"Me too. There might be restaurants near the rest stop."

"Fast food is fine," she says. Then she remembers whom she's driving with. "Oh. Right."

"What?"

"McDonald's doesn't conform to your healthy diet," she giggles. "I, on the other hand, enjoy the occasional sausage McMuffin."

Derek smirks at her as he gets off at the exit. "Not all of us are blessed with your metabolism, Mer."

"Just because you don't have a six pack doesn't mean you need to cut yourself off from everything," Meredith reminds him.

"Wait," he says, pulling into the rest stop. After he maneuvers the car into a parking spot, he pats his stomach with his hand. "You think I'm fat?"

The way he says it, sounding all wounded, makes her laugh. "No, I don't think you're fat. I happen to find you insanely hot." Meredith leans over the consol and kisses him. "And I love you."

"I love you, too," he smiles against her lips.

"Want anything? I think they have food here," she says, grabbing her tote bag off the floor of the car.

"You pick."

When they meet up after using the bathroom, she's holding two cups of coffee, and two breakfast sandwiches, wrapped in yellow paper. "Egg and cheese biscuits," Meredith tells him, handing him his.

It's not something he'd normally eat, but they're on vacation, after all, so he decides to go with it to make her happy. "Hmm, thanks."

She smiles in approval, watching as he peels back the greasy wrapper. "Welcome to the dark side."

…

_9 A.M._

Meredith pulls a book of Mad Libs from her bag, kicks off her flip flops, and puts her feet up by the dashboard. "Wanna play?" she asks.

"Where'd you get that?" he chuckles.

"Hospital gift shop yesterday. Figured it would keep us entertained," she shrugs. She flips to the first page and clicks her pen. "Okay. Adjective."

"Uhh…" Derek ponders for a moment. "Blue."

"Blue? That's the best you can do, Mr. Crossword Puzzle?" Meredith teases him.

"Fine. I'll step it up," he says. "Acrophobic."

"Good one. Very impressive," she laughs, writing it on the line. "Body part."

Derek purses his lips in thought. "Clavicle."

Meredith writes it down. "I expected you to say brain."

He smirks. "I know. That's why I said clavicle."

…

_10 A.M._

The yellow lines on the road are making her dizzy, and it feels like she's been in the car for days.

"We're almost in California, right?" she asks, glancing at the clock.

Derek nods. "Yep."

"You know, if we would've taken a plane, we could've joined the Mile High Club. Just saying…" Meredith points out playfully, taking a sip from their shared water bottle sitting between them.

"Want me to pull over? We could have a quickie in the backseat," Derek offers.

The road they're traveling on is nearly deserted, and there's been no one driving behind or in front of them for miles, so Meredith agrees.

"Sure. Why not?"

"Seriously?" he laughs.

Meredith shrugs. "Yeah."

Derek pulls off to the side of the dirt road, and cuts the engine. "Is this illegal?" he asks, waiting for her to climb into the backseat first.

"Yeah, probably," Meredith says.

By the time he joins her back there, she's already shimmying out of her shorts. Illegal or not, naked Meredith is worth the risk of getting arrested for public indecency.

Fifteen minutes later, they're back on the road, smiles of satisfaction on both of their faces.

…

_11 A.M._

Derek's not sure if he's more in love with his wife or amused by her. A lot of both. When she finds a radio station she likes, it's like karaoke night in the car.

Meredith is swaying her hips back and forth to the music and singing shamelessly out of key, holding an imaginary microphone. "Let you put your hands on me, in my skin-tight jeans! Be your teenage dream tonight!"

She sees him smirking at her, and she smiles at him. "You. Make. Me. Feel like I'm living a teenage dream, the way you turn me on! I can't sleep! Let's run away and don't ever look back! Don't ever look back!"

Derek could just as easily pop in his Clash CD, and effectively silence the rock concert going on in the passenger seat, but he doesn't. Not just because she'd yell at him, but because she's way more fun to watch out of the corner of his eye while he drives.

…

_12 P.M._

Derek's stomach growls as lunchtime rolls around, and he glances over at Meredith, who's absentmindedly braiding her hair out of boredom. "Anything good in the food bag you packed?"

"That depends."

"Depends on what?" he asks.

"Your definition of good." Meredith lets go of the braid she was working on, and twists around to rummage through the grocery bag full of snack food on the floor of the backseat. "Uh… we've got pretzels, Oreos, cheese crackers, fruit snacks…"

Derek laughs at the selection, obviously handpicked by his wife. "Any actual fruit?"

"No. I didn't want it to go bad sitting in the cooler, so I didn't pack any," she says. "The fruit snacks are actually pretty good. They're shaped like Batman."

"Is that supposed to lure me?" he jokes.

"No. But it was either that, or the Disney princesses," she says, grabbing herself a pack.

"Mmhmm," he smirks. "What if we have daughters? Gonna make them eat Batman fruit snacks?"

She settles back into her seat and opens the plastic wrapper. "Of course not. Then we can buy girly everything. But until then, Batman trumps princesses. That's all I'm saying," Meredith decides, popping one into her mouth.

"Fair enough." He spots a small fruit market approaching on the left. "Aah, we're in luck. Mind if we pull over?"

"No, I don't care," she replies, slipping her flip flops back on. "Don't let the fruit snacks fool you. I do like actual fruit, too."

"I know you do," Derek chuckles as he pulls off into the makeshift parking lot.

There's two little girls selling lemonade under an umbrella next to the fruit stand, and Meredith laughs. "That's really cute. We should buy some off of them."

"Alright," he agrees, taking her hand.

They each buy two cups at fifty cents apiece, and Meredith smiles when her husband leaves them a ten dollar tip. As they walk back to the car holding their purchased bag of fruit, she squeezes his hand. "You'll be a really good dad someday," she tells him.

He plants a kiss on top of her head before opening her car door. "You'll be a good mom, too."

…

_2 P.M._

They arrive at their hotel in Sonoma an hour later than expected, not because of traffic, but because of the rest stop/quickie/fruit stand detours along the way.

After lugging all of their stuff out of the car and checking in, they make it to their room and collapse down onto the bed within seconds. "Finally," Meredith sighs in relief.

"Ten hours," Derek says, wrapping his arm around her. "See? Way more fun than flying. How often do I get my own personal "Meredith's Greatest Hits" concert?"

She rests her head on his chest and smiles. "Happy to entertain you."

"Personally, I enjoyed the story of the acrophobic zombie who lost his clavicle on a ferryboat," he grins. "We should do Mad Libs more often."

"We should have quickies in the backseat more often," Meredith adds, arching her back toward him when he kisses her neck, his stubble tickling her skin.

He laughs, and the vibrations send shivers through her. "Definitely," he murmurs.

"We're in wine country. Don't you want to drink wine and see country?" she giggles as he rolls her on top of him.

"There's a wine tasting later. We could do that," he suggests, smoothing his hands up and down her thighs.

"Okay. But sex first."

"Sex first," Derek agrees. He pats his belly and looks at her, amused. "I could use the exercise. Gotta work on that six pack, right?"

Meredith leans down and kisses him. "Shut up."


End file.
